Marietta Hotel for final consultation before the blow was struck we were
but twenty, including our leader. All preliminary difficulties had been
easily overcome, and we were in good spirits. But some serious obstacles
had been revealed on our ride from Chattanooga to Marietta the previous
evening.[3] The railroad was found to be crowded with trains, and many
soldiers were among the passengers. Then the station--Big Shanty--at
which the capture was to be effected had recently been made a
Confederate camp. To succeed in our enterprise it would be necessary
first to capture the engine in a guarded camp with soldiers standing
around as spectators, and then to run it from one to two hundred miles
through the enemy's country, and to deceive or overpower all trains that
should be met--a large contract for twenty men. Some of our party
thought the chances of success so slight, under existing circumstances,
that they urged the abandonment of the whole enterprise. But Andrews
declared his purpose to succeed or die, offering to each man, however,
the privilege of withdrawing from the attempt--an offer no one was in
the least disposed to accept. Final instructions were then given, and we
hurried to the ticket-office in time for the northward-bound mail-train,
and purchased tickets for different stations along the line in the
direction of Chattanooga.

[Footnote 3: The different detachments reached the Georgia State
Railroad at Chattanooga, and traveled as ordinary passengers on trains
running southward.--EDITOR.]

Our ride, as passengers, was but eight miles. We swept swiftly around
the base of Kenesaw Mountain, and soon saw the tents of the Confederate
forces camped at Big Shanty gleam white in the morning mist. Here we
were to stop for breakfast, and attempt the seizure of the train. The
morning was raw and gloomy, and a rain, which fell all day, had already